XDC Round 1 at Irwindale was the first event of my 2011 season. I felt some pressure to repeat after winning this event in 2010. However, it had been about 4 months since I was last behind the wheel, and almost 6 months since the last competition event I participated in, so I was a little rusty.

Friday practice was a little shaky for me at first. Even though only minor changes had been made to the car during the off-season, I found it difficult piloting the car with a similar amount of grip as I was used to running last season. I had my team loosen up the car significantly to allow me to feel more comfortable behind the wheel and drive the car with less commitment. That frustrated me because I felt like I was taking a step backwards. Throughout the day I took many passes around the track trying to regain my comfort and confidence. Unfortunately my day was cut slightly short due to a couple rocker arms breaking in the engine. My crew did a great job to have them replaced that night before Saturday’s main event. They also took a moment to change the engine’s rev-limiter from a hard cut to a soft cut. We believe the hard cut may have contributed to the broken rockers.

Saturday started off much more smoothly. I took a few passes in the morning practice session to get in the zone for the day and confirm the engine was healthy. I felt much more calm than usual leading up to qualifying. I am now beginning my fourth season of competitive drifting and am slightly improving my ability to control my nerves.

My first qualifying lap went very good. I scored an 82, which sat me in first place for quite a while. On my second lap I attempted to turn it up a little but unfortunately spun upon crossing the traditional start/finish line. The car was a little too loose for how aggressively I was trying to drive it. So my first score stuck, leaving me in 2nd place at the end of qualifying. After comparing other drivers’ speeds against my own, we decided not to tighten up my car. We didn’t want to risk getting caught up too close behind another competitor with too tight of a car.

My top-16 match up was against Formula Drift driver, Jeff Abbot. He was unfortunately experiencing some difficulties with the power steering in his car and wasn’t able to put up as strong of fight as he usually does in Formula Drift. I got the win and moved on to the top-8.

My next match up was against Josh Steele. I created a large gap while leading and then proceeded to spinout all on my own. Not cool! I didn’t have too much to loose after that so I gave my 100% behind him on my chase lap but unfortunately got caught up behind him while crossing the finish and spun, handing him the win.

Although it would have been nice to make it on the podium, I am still happy with my 5th place finish. I feel a lot more comfortable and confident behind the wheel now and I believe I will have a stronger showing at my next event. I thank my team and partners for their support!

Jordan Hamelin of JHD Productions cut me this sweet video of footage he collected of me during the 2010 DMCC season. Enjoy!

Raw, un-edited footage from HD GoPro cameras, mounted to the helmet of Dave Briggs and the roof of Nate Hamilton. Top 8 battle at Round 5 of XDC, held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 25, 2010.

Raw, un-edited footage from a HD GoPro mounted to the helmet of Dave Briggs during a qualification pass at Round 5 of DMCC 2010.

August 14, 2010 – We made our second visit to Autodrome Montmagny in Quebec for the 4th round of DMCC 2010 Season. This was a single day event consisting of an open practice session in the afternoon, qualifying in the evening, and top 16 once the sun went down! This event also marked my 10th event of 2010! As you can see, the car is in dire need of a refresh!

The sun quickly started dropping once qualifying started. By the time i got to do my second pass it was dark!

Here I am standing proud after qualifying in 2nd place during the opening ceremonies. Don’t I look snazzy?

During top 16, Maxime Truchon spun behind me on entry and handed me the win.

In top 8 I was matched up against Marc Landreville. The last time I battled Marc I nudged him on my chase lap and he got the win. This time I made sure I was more careful. Although the battle went to a OMT, I was able to take him out and get the win!

Up next in top 4 was Freddy Girard. Freddy had a good chase lap on me. He was able to stay within a close perimeter of me pretty much the entire course. On my chase run I lost him a bit coming out of the infield. Most of the drivers, including me, drop down a gear for the duration of the infield. Freddy stays in the same gear and left-foot-brakes into it, allowing him to not have to up-shift, thus exiting the infield a lot faster.

In the battle for 3rd I ran into a similar problem facing Pat Cyr. Pat had a tight chase run on me and when it was my turn to follow him I lost him through the infield.

Once again, for the 3rd time this DMCC season I finished a hair off the podium in 4th place. I am dedicated to learning from my mistakes and taking every event and every battle as a learning experience. I try and take positive approach to my loses as a chance to see where I went wrong and what I can do to improve that in the future. As it stands, we remain in 3rd place in the overall DMCC standings. As always, thanks to my team, my family and my fans!

Now for the fun part! Enjoy this awesome video Dan Cyr put together for me! We finally got some GoPros so this video is definitely the best one so far! Happy watching!

CYRIOUS PRODUCTIONS – D.B. Special 04: The Distance from Cyrious Productions on Vimeo.

Wish me luck this coming weekend for round 5 of DMCC!

I made my first ever trip to Englishtown New Jersey this past weekend for XDC round 4. The track layout was really fun and the stands were full of fans ready to see some action!

I always get a little nervous during qualifications. Thankfully, I was able to not let my nerves get the best of me and I laid down a pretty aggressive run earning me the 3rd place qualifier!

Here’s a pic of me beside “The Wolf”, Matt Walden. He qualified one spot higher than me in 2nd. I thought it was really funny that he wore his wolf hat during the opening ceremonies!

For Top 16 I was matched up with 14th place qualifier and fellow Canadian drifter, Carl Nadeau, in his BF Goodrich BMW. I had been tapping the rear corner of my car all weekend long on the wall and was feeling comfortable being aggressive.

I attempted to try and grind the wall longer than anyone else.

My line was too deep and the front end came around on me. Serves me right for trying to be a showoff, right?

This was unfortunately the early ending to my weekend. I had high hopes of going all the way like I did earlier this year at Irwindale. I guess I need to learn to not try and win the competition in one single run.

My next event is DMCC Round 4 at Montmagny this coming weekend. Hopefully I will be able to regain some confidence there. Until then, enjoy this dope video Dan Cyr put together for me!

CYRIOUS PRODUCTIONS – D.B. Special 03 from Cyrious Productions on Vimeo.

DMCC Round 3 was held at ICAR, a brand new racetrack built on the old Mirabel International Airport near Montreal, QC. I was super pumped for this event and hoping to make my first podium appearance at DMCC!

Unfortunately, I missed most of practice due to drivetrain issues but I was able to get in a few runs.

Here’s one of Matt Waldin all up on me.

I decided to pay it forward to Norm Bidal on my next run.

Here’s a shot of BF Goodrich driver, Claude Porier chasing me.

I qualified in the 10th spot. I personally thought I laid down two good runs but my score reflects I still had a lot room to improve.

Here’s a shot of some of the DMCC models with a lucky fan.

This one hung out with me during the Top-16 ceremonies.

My Top-16 match was against Jo Thiffault. Since he was the higher qualifier, he led first. I was able to stay pretty tight with him, even traded a little paint! On his chase lap I believe he spun, giving me the win.

Next up in Top-8, I was matched against Pat Cyr. Pat had qualified 2nd so I knew he was layin it down. On my chase run I got a little greedy with angle throwing it in almost backwards at one point and scrubbing too much speed. On Pat’s chase run he was able to keep pretty tight with me throughout so he was awarded the win.

All in all it was another fun weekend! I was upset I didn’t get to finish on the podium once again but I know if I keep pushing it will come. Just want to give a huge thanks to everyone that came out and helped me including my dad Jim, my girlfriend Matia, and my crew, Ardo, Noubz, Mitch and Jimmy.

Now here’s a video! WATCH IT!! It’s sweet! Thanks to Dan Cyr from Drift Posse!

CYRIOUS PRODUCTIONS – D.B. Special 02 from Cyrious Productions on Vimeo.

Drift Posse’s Dan Cyr put together a quick little vid with the footage he had of me from DMCC round 2 in Montmagny.

Check it out! It’s pretty sweet!

Just want to start off by saying that Wrecked Magazine is the most kick-ass site for all up-to-date and insider drifting news and I am super stoked to be joining the fam and blogging about all my rad drifting adventures!

I have two seasons of drifting under my belt now. I spent this past winter and spring in California training and shredding it up. I met a lot of really awesome people and it was probably the best six months of my life. I owe a huge thanks to Chris Forsberg and Justin Pawlak. Those two guys really helped me out and things have been going hella better since! I’m not competing in FD yet but if you catch me in the stands I’m definitely cheerin’ DA all the way!

This season I’m really putting my heart into this sport more than ever. It’s not easy to climb the ladder and make it to the top but I’m doing everything I can and working towards that. You can accomplish anything you set your mind to, right? I love this sport more than anything!

I hope all of you enjoy watching me work my way up the ranks from a grassroots driver to a pro.